1. Williams Soaring Center 2017 John Cochrane
Flying Faster
Williams Soaring Center 2017
John Cochrane

2. Goal and process Why fly faster? How to get better:
Figure out what to do (ground).
Specific practice (air). Learn how to do in the air things you understand on the ground.
Make it automatic.
Theory vs. rules of thumb.

3. How to fly faster 1) Climb better 2) Climb better 3) Climb better
How to climb better:
Avoid bad lift.
Weak lift hurts more than strong lift helps.
Average of 2 kts and 10 kts is 3.33 kts not 6 kts: 2 kts = 5 min. 10 kts = 1 min. 2000’/6 min = 3.33 knots.
2 x 4 knots is better! “Little harm ever came from climbing in smooth 5 kts lift.”
Leave bad lift.
Set a value (Mc) – 2-3 knots. If averager < Mc you leave. Now. Yes, Now!
If lift is not increasing at 60deg off course, do not continue turn.
Common errors.
Psychology:
Confidence—there will be lift ahead and you will find it. (Weather, experience)
Why am I scared?
How often have I actually landed from this position/weather?
4) Cruise faster; make better strategic decisions, (generalized) “MacCready theory”

4. MacCready 101: The Polar Glide speed Vertical speed (sink rate)
Glide angle
Sink rate
Horizontal speed (airspeed)

5. MacCready 101 -- Scenario Glide Climb = Mc setting
Was: What is lift in the next thermal?
Now: What is the minimum (totally smooth, no search time) lift you would stop and take right now?

6. MacCready 101 Climb Rate, Mc Average speed Glide speed Glide angle
Sink rate
Glide angle

7. MacCready 101 Climb Rate, Mc Best average speed “MacCready”
Glide speed

9. MacCready 101 Climb = 4kts Get used to flying faster. A lot faster.
Glide speed = 83 kts
Best L/D = 48 kts
Get used to flying faster. A lot faster.

10. Numbers: Target Cruise Speeds
Dry ASW 24
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L - Avg Speed-
(kts) (kts) L/D ft/mi (mph) (kph)
Almost never used
Desperate
Cautious
Doing fine everyday setting
Ripping, confident
Not used except heavy sink, final glide,
wave, ridge, Tonopah, or other
special cirucumstance.
(especially standard class)
Cruise faster!
But not that fast! Why do we use Mc 3-4 glides in 6 knot lift? Coming.
Average speeds 70+ come from gliding in lift, not booming thermals and mad glides

11. Dry Std Cirrus
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L |--- Avg Spd |
(kts) (kts) km/h L/D ft/mi (kts) (mph) (kph)
Wet Std Cirrus
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L |--- Avg Spd |
(kts) (kts) km/h L/D ft/mi (kts) (mph) (kph)

12. Dry ASW 27
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L |--- Avg Spd |
(kts) (kts) km/h L/D ft/mi (kts) (mph) (kph)
Flaps open up high speed polar
Wet ASW 27
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L |--- Avg Spd |
(kts) (kts) km/h L/D ft/mi (kts) (mph) (kph)

13. Dry ASG 29
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L |--- Avg Spd |
(kts) (kts) km/h L/D ft/mi (kts) (mph) (kph)
Wet ASG 29
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L |--- Avg Spd |
(kts) (kts) km/h L/D ft/mi (kts) (mph) (kph)
Seeyou: virtually all pilots at 18m nats fly

14. MacCready 101
Climb
Rate=Mc
5 knots fast or slow doesn’t hurt a lot

15. MacCready 101 Climb Rate -Mc Flying best L/D (Mc = 0) or Mc = 1
hurts a lot

16. MacCready 101– Lift and Sink
Climb
rate, Mc
3. Mc + sink gives same answer
2. Fly faster in sink
1. Sink is like a worse glider

17. MacCready 201– Lift and Sink
Mc setting
Lift
Faster in sink, slower in lift (duh)
Don’t slow down too much if lift < Mc
Set Mc, speed to fly vario does this automatically
Instead / anyway, good to know numbers
Review numbers with this in mind.

18. Numbers: Lift/sink Dry ASW 24
Basic MacCready speeds and average speeds
Mc Glide D/L - Avg Speed-
(kts) (kts) L/D ft/mi (mph) (kph)
Cautious + 2 kts lift
Cautious
Cautious + 2 kts netto sink = 4 kts vario sink
Cautious = 4 kts (wave) sink

19. Practical dolphin / speed flying
Block speeds – don’t chase vario.
What’s ahead matters – slow for smooth lift, big clouds; speed up in consistent/ predictable sink.
Change in vario/g matters. Pull while lift increasing, push when lift decreasing.
No big zoomies, pushovers (safety!)
In strong persistent lift, slow to < min sink, flaps, S turns. But be ready to push!
Don’t get caught too slow wishing for it. Slow in sink is worse than fast in lift.
Leave thermals gently, following clouds, wind, gliders (sorry, Moffat.)
Course deviations to fly in lift are more important than speed changes. (20 degrees = 6% longer, 30 degrees = 13% longer)
Never cruise best L/D! If you’re not in lift, you’re in sink!
(Exception: desperate glide in absolutely smooth no / sink air)

20. Understanding the instruments
Sink
Mc setting
Set Mc 4, stf vario tells you this:
Lift
So, if flying steady 83 kts, a good vario (CN) makes a “2 kt” up sound in 2 kts netto up; “2 kt” down sound in 2 kts netto down, and shuts up if you’re doing the right thing.

21. Practical dolphin flying – Instruments (Warning: opinions vary)
Vario: A fast well compensated speed-to-fly audio is essential. Don’t follow push pull, use it to listen to air, push pull slowly.
Netto is acceptable, but leads to milking bad lift, not flying fast enough. Use stf audio as netto instead.
Regular vario: Next to impossible.
Examples: 1) Mc kt sink, 85kts. Vario = Find 1 kt lift? Vario = Slow down? 2) 1 kt sink. Same annoying tone for Mc 1, 4; water/none; flying fast/slow/right. 3) CN story.
My vario in cruise:
Fast STF audio, no deadband (what’s the air doing?)
Relative needle (how fast would I climb if I stopped now?)
Averager slow netto (used rarely)
In climb:
Fast regular audio. Needle slower (rarely used)
20 sec average, bottom to top average (important)

22. Understanding the instruments
Sink
Mc setting
Set Mc 4, stf vario tells you this:
Lift
Glide computer tells you this – adjusts for wind, bugs, water ballast but not lift/sink
Good glide computer tells you this for block speed.

23. Using Mc for safety glides
4. ..if you input this (huge) Mc value
3. Glide computer can calculate that angle (adjusting for wind, etc)
1. Sink is like a worse glider
2. Achieved glide
Flying Mc0 in sink

24. Using Mc for safety glides
Effect of airmass sink on glide –
max glide; flying Mc 0
Sink Glide D/L Mc Vario
(kts) (kts) L/D ft/mi (kts)
Dry ASW 24
Mc Glide D/L - Avg Speed-
(kts) (kts) L/D ft/mi (mph) (kph)
To Calculate 24:1 / 216’/mi safety glide (adjusted for wind), input Mc 5 to glide computer. For French Alps 20:1, Mc 7.
Steady 1 knot sink, flown optimally (58 knots) at Mc 0, gives you a 24:1 glide!

25. Using Mc, glide computer, for safety glides
Decouple glide computer, speed director.
Use much higher Mc for safety considerations than speed.
Speed: average thermals ahead. Safety in lower Mc values
Glides: worst case sink ahead. Safety in higher Mc values
Good weather is more dangerous! No lift = no sink.
Rules of thumb:
Mc 3, 30:1: Contests, over safe fields.
Mc 4-5: 25:1 Everyday flying, safe but inconvenient options.
Mc 6-7: 20:1 Bad options or wave etc. persistent sink.
More: your life depends on it, and wave etc. sink around.
Fancy version: Sink doesn’t last forever, so longer glide angles are safer. Thus, combine glide angle + arrival height. Further: Less glide, more height. Closer: Steeper glide, less margin.
Williams summertime special case. No lift or sink in the valley on summer days (only), so Mc ’. This is a special case, don’t use it elsewhere!

26. MacCready 301. Lower Mc settings.
Why do we use Mc 3-4 in “6-8 kt lift?”
Centering time
Thermals vary with altitude
Range / altitude bands
4 kts
7 kts! Call buddies on radio
Glide
Drat, lost it, recenter
6 kts
4 kts
3 kts
This is not a 7 kt thermal!
Mc = lesser of initial climb,
Total bottom to top climb
Time to center

27. Mc 301. Lower Mc Settings: Centering time.
Height Lift
Gain
centering time = 0.50
centering time = (3 circles)
centering time = 2.00
Again, “8 kts” is not 8 kts! Lower Mc settings is Mc theory.
Worse for strong lift & short climbs
“Don’t climb unless 2000’gain” “Long glide” -- Unless smooth.
Smooth more important than strong for stop to climb decision.
Worth staying in thermals past peak if still smooth. You paid entrance fee.
Instruments: Bottom to now averager! (See you trace) Compare 20 sec / bottom to now.

28. MacCready 301: Range Climb rate
5 knots fast or slow doesn’t hurt a lot
But does affect glide angle = range.

29. A Common Range Fallacy Mc =4, 83 kts 4 kts
4 kts (smooth, bottom to top!)
4 kts
6 kts
Mc =2, 68 kts
6 kts
Take smooth, or bottom to top lift greater than your glide Mc setting.

30. MacCready PhD
Mc = value of altitude. “If I were 400 feet higher I could finish one minute sooner.” Mc =4
This “MacCready value” governs all altitude/time decisions
Take thermal > 4 kts, leave thermals < 4kts
Cruise at Mc 4
Make course deviations that cost 1 minute, if you pick up > 400’
Etc., etc., etc.
Insight 1: use the same “price” consistently in your decisions.
What is the value? Old: know 4 knot thermal ahead, Mc = 4. Now:
Thermals are uncertain, must search.
Can’t run out of altitude.

31. A simple calculation Math: find the best speed, but add :
Altitude > 0,
Landout valued by US rules.
Thermals are random:
Thermal
Miles
Strength 1 5 10 20 90 99 2 61 84 4 30 52 6 18
Probability (%) of finding a thermal at least this strong
(Discus flying in Northern Illinois on a good day)

32. This is the “weakest thermal you’d take = lift to leave.”
Steadily change setting with height. Stairstep saves.
“4-6 knot day”. Settings are a lot lower! “Don’t fly Mc?”
A flexible “height band” emerges.

33. “Stay High”
Large smooth thermals,
Easy to do long glides in lift
Mc 5
Mc 3
???
Strong thermals, but narrow, hard to center, lots of sink,
Don’t match clouds
Altitude band emerges by being less choosey as you get lower

34. Glider/pilot performance
Discus, no 1 knot saves
Slower pilots, gliders need to fly more conservatively.
Less chance of 1 knot saves = fly a discus like a Ka6

35. Bottom line
At any moment, “what is the weakest lift I would take right now” This is Mc value
Completely smooth, no centering time, no chance of missing it (wave lift)! (Or others, after all adjustments.) This is the central misunderstanding of Mc theory.
0 Imminent landout
1 Desperate
2 Cautious
3 Everyday
4 Aggressive
Take any lift stronger than Mc value. Leave any lift weaker. Now!
Fly corresponding block speed. (Never best L/D) Adjust smoothly to lift/sink ahead.
Mc Depends on weather / terrain ahead!
Steadily reduce the Mc value as you get lower. Steadily increase as you get higher. (Leave bad lift when safe)
Use much higher Mc value in your glide computer for safety calculations.
Make all this automatic – speed is mostly about climbing better, avoiding search, reading weather, gliding in lift, avoiding getting stuck.
…Climb better !

36. More
Google “John cochrane soaring” or

38. MacCready Post-doc (not today)
Final glides. (Start bold, finish cautious)
Objectives/costs. (Records, grand prix push harder)
Upwind/downwind turnpoints. (Just how low?)
MacCready in wind and wave.
How to glide to a ridge.
How big course deviations to make?
Start gate exit strategy

39. Final glides Jacobs: start low, bump up.
Johnson: stay high, 10 extra points not worth a landout catastrophe
Glide computer
Johnson
Jacobs
Start like Jacobs, finish like Johnson
Depends very much on lift down low – and fields in the last few miles

40. An Upwind Turnpoint 10 Miles from turnpoint Just after turnpoint
= Normal, far from turn
Altitude
Just before turnpoint
A natural lower heightband emerges going in to upwind turnpoints
But yes, you stop for 6 knots going in if it’s going to be 2 knots after!
AT/MAT: use glide computer to find altitude at TP
TAT: You choose low turnpoint!
Knots 1 2 3 4 5

41. MacReady values around a turnpoint with wind
How much is 2 knots downwind really =, upwind?

43. So don’t stop for less than 6 knots going in
1. After the turn, I think I can find 3 knots

44. Upwind/downwind for dry ASW24

45. Table of upwind / downwind turnpoint MacCready values.
Dry ASW 24
Use this on the ground at the beginning of the day!
Wind (kts)

46. What is the Mc value?
Art, but thinking through some simple cases helps.
Classic cases are still valid. Mc = 4 if
Next thermal = 4 knots
27:1 from home, no lift/sink
Mc now = expected Mc ahead
A useful rule.
Expected (minutes/feet) so lower settings
Example: Even chance of 1, 3, 5 knots =1.6 kt!

47. Centering Time
Altitude
Mc for speed,
Min average climb to stop,
Instantaneous climb to leave
Min climb
(after centering) to stop
Knots 1 2 3 4 5
Stay in weaker lift than you’d stop for, cruise at “stay” value
“Altitude band rules” result -- and when to break them
How long it will take to center? Decides if you stop!

48. Poor Lift Down Low Altitude Knots
Worth slowing down / taking medium thermals to “stay connected”
Old Calculation 1 2 3 4 5
Knots